The drive to write about student protests has been with me for a long time. I am glad I finally did it.

Aren’t we witnessing a worldwide rising of protests? Pro- and anti-Palestinian, accelerating along with the tragic devastation of Gaza. In Bangladesh, student protests escalated until they ousted the prime minister, at the price of a high death toll. Also recently, the Paris Olympics raised irate protest voices against its choice of opening theme. British cities have erupted in a serious anti-immigrant backlash. Protest causes around the globe could hardly be more diverse. 

In my book I quote Dr Feyzi Ismael, who lectures at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. In 2020 he pointed out: ‘The 1st two decades of the 21st century are characterized by a renewal of mass manifestations. This is happening worldwide. The multiple protests are fragmented and contain inherent contradictions. Globalization of the economy has called into being an anti-globalisation movement.’  Dr Ismael predicted that popular protests will only increase and lead to untenable consequences for people everywhere. 

Many people – both activists and bystanders whose families or livelihoods are under threat – are living through the traumatizing consequences. 

My interest in protest movements dates back to being 18 and a 1st year student in political and social sciences in Antwerpen. On the theory side was ‘Soc 101’. It mapped out collective behaviour and the differences between crowds, mass behaviours and of course the various types of social movements: reform, resistance, expressive and revolutionary movements – each distinct efforts to produce social change

But far more important was the fact that the student protest of ‘68 was happening around me. My path through student politics and a growing awareness of the many causes of injustice left its mark on me. This experience is indelibly part of me and of the values I endorse and keep striving for. 

Decades later in South Africa, I am witnessing the waves of student protest and their impact on students and colleagues, the campuses and the country. Activism was intensifying, until the pandemic brought it to halt… Then I began to sort out my thoughts and write… But when the impact of the pandemic became clear and we now experience the aftermath of its scenario of impoverishment, social isolation and fear, I rewrote my manuscript. Specifically, my strategies of hope for academia needed to include a new given that was not there before. 

This book presents my views in the hope to contribute to thought, concern, debate and action that can push righteous protest causes forward toward solutions. I hope that, despite contradictory ideologies, there can emerge leadership with consensual solutions. Both short-term interventions that curb corruption and violence and longer-term ones that will uphold a thriving South African academic environment.

My conviction that engaged academia is a major player in human upliftment does not waver. 

In my case, Viva Academia springs from the heart.